Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] Access to affordable and quality child care is something that Australian families rightly expect and desperately need. I want to begin my remarks today by acknowledging and thanking all the early childhood educators across our country and in my community here in the Jagajaga electorate. We are so grateful to you and grateful for the way that you have continued your frontline work, looking after our youngest Australians, throughout this pandemic. I know it's not easy work, and I know that in the last year or so there have been so many points of uncertainty for you that you have battled through to continue to provide an essential service. That's what child care is and that's what early education is. It's an essential service and it's one that is highly valued by those of us on this side of the House. For me, personally, with two very small children, it's a service that I value highly. I value highly the skilled early childhood educators who take care of my children daily. Thank you again for all of your efforts.

It was particularly difficult for those of us here in Victoria last year during our extended multiple lockdowns to have to talk with early childhood education providers, educators, owners of centres and parents, because those people were left in a position of overwhelming uncertainty by the Morrison government. They were not backed up; they were not given the framework and support that should have been in place for this essential service. It is good that this bill seeks to remove the annual child care subsidy cap and increase the child care subsidy rates for families with multiple children under six years of age. That fixes some of those gaps, but it's only a small amount of relief for a small number of families for a short amount of time. We can, and we must, do better when it comes to early childhood education and child care in this country.

During the last year in Victoria, many people have been in and out of lockdown. They have ceased work, they've lost hours and their family budgets have been impacted hugely. This has really affected their access to child care. For those families here in Victoria, changing the rules around childcare gap fees during those earlier lockdowns would have alleviated so much stress, and yet this government couldn't bring itself to do that. Those families who have been in lockdown here in Melbourne have too often had to be charged gap fees by centres. I know that a lot of centres in my community didn't want to charge those fees but there was no support from the federal government to allow them to get through that. We would have liked to have seen the support that's now being extended to Sydney—and I certainly don't begrudge them that—in Victoria. There shouldn't be this double standard. We need to make sure that all families understand that they can afford and access early childhood education throughout this pandemic. Allowing providers to still receive the child care subsidy but not having to charge gap fees would be really, really important.

While I'm looking at the way that the early childhood care system has been treated over the past year or so during the pandemic, I can't go past the neglect that the Morrison government showed early childhood educators last year when they took away JobKeeper from early childhood educators—the only workers for whom JobKeeper was removed early. What does that say, again, about how this government values this support and this work? We're in lockdown again in Victoria during this time and, of course, 96 per cent of early educators are women—women who were hit hard by the pandemic. They were juggling, taking on extra care responsibilities, and then, in their workplaces, they were being left in situations where they weren't getting federal government support. I have spent a lot of time speaking with those women in my community, about what that decision meant for them and how upset and angry they were that at a time when they really needed government support they were left without it.

One woman in my community, a 59-year-old early childhood educator, was stood down without pay for six weeks. Her husband was retired and so that was a huge hit to their income. One provider in my community, in Macleod, was trying to do the right thing by her employees and not stand them down. She was also trying to bear those extra costs and was really struggling with that. Employers of early childhood educators were feeling—and I think to some extent are still feeling—unseen and unheard, and worried about their futures. So there's much more that this government should be doing to support early educators as the frontline workers who are helping to bring up our next generation.

And of course there's much more that this government should be doing to support Australian families with the costs of child care because, as we've already heard from the Leader of the Opposition and from the member for Perth in their contributions, Australia has some of the most expensive childcare fees in the OECD. Amongst developed countries, our families pay almost the most for child care. That's not a record that we want to hold; that's not a sign of success. It's this government's policy not doing what it should. We know that the Prime Minister, when he was Minister for Social Services, dubbed his system reforms a 'once-in-a-generation reform' that would make child care more affordable. Yet, since then, we've seen childcare costs increase by 7.2 per cent in one year alone before the pandemic. We've got the government saying they made a once-in-a-generation reform with no problems with costs, and yet costs are continuing to rise and continuing to impact family budgets.

I can tell you, from both the data we see and the conversations I have had in my electorate, that the people whose lives are being affected by those costs are women. It is women who cannot go back to work because their families cannot afford an extra day of child care. It is women who are making those decisions about 'Will I go back now that I've had a second child?' and 'What will the cost be?' I can't tell you how many conversations I've had while pushing my small child on a swing and chatting to the mum next to me, where the mum will say, 'I think I'll probably only go back to work three days, because we can't afford the extra day or two of child care.' That's where the Morrison government's policies have left child care and early education in this country. It does have long-term effects on women. It has long-term effects on their earning ability and on their careers, and it obviously has long-term effects on their whole family. Most families in Australia these days need two parents to work to be able to afford the mortgage and pay for all the things for their children. They deserve a government that is serious about putting in place affordable child care, not one that's putting in a half-hearted program that may support a few families but certainly not enough.

This goes to how the Morrison government use early education and the role of women more broadly in our community. We know that, when this policy was discussed in the Morrison government's party room, members of that party room said, 'Isn't child care just women outsourcing their parenting responsibility?' It is not women outsourcing their parenting responsibility. It is women trying to do all things. It is women trying to work and trying to make sure that their children are cared for properly and given an early education. It is an incredibly valuable service, which again, as the Leader of the Opposition pointed out, should be a universal service, helping all of our children get the best start in life. It needs to be more than what the Morrison government is putting in place.

I'm so proud that Labor's policy makes child care more affordable for families across the spectrum and recognises that child care and early education is something that benefits not just those families with children in child care and early education but all of us by bringing up the next generation with the education for the best start in life. We do know that Labor's policy will benefit many more families than the government's policy. Some 860,000 families, or 86 per cent of all families with children aged under six in the system, will be better off under our policy compared to that of the government. Every single family with one child aged five or under in child care with a combined family income of less than $530,000 will receive no lift in their childcare subsidy rate under the Liberals, but they will under Labor. The vast majority of families with a combined family income of between $69,806 and $174,806 with two children in child care will be better off under Labor. That's 97 per cent of Australian families with children in care that Labor will make child care cheaper for. We will increase the childcare subsidy for more than one million working families, remove the annual cap on childcare benefits and prevent out-of-control fee increases. We're not going to put extra complexity into the system and say that it's only when you have a second child within the right time frame that you'll get the extra support that the government is offering. We'll support every child in child care with an improvement in the subsidy arrangements that will help 97 per cent of Australian families.

That is going to make such a difference in my community. It is going to make such a difference for women across Australia who are making decisions about 'What does it look like trying to go back to work?' and 'What does the financial juggle look like around trying to access those extra days in child care?' so that they can continue to work to build their career and make sure they have an income for the future while also making sure that their children are getting the support and early education that means that they will be getting a great start in life.

Labor value early education; we value early educators. We understand that this is frontline work. We understand that our early educators should be supported through the pandemic and into the future. We understand that making reforms to early education and child care in this country are foundation policies that will not just transform participation in our economy but will make families' lives easier across Australia and help support the next generation of Australians.

Making sure that we are giving all Australian children access to quality early childhood education means that they all have a chance at the best start in life. It's not outsourcing women's work. It's not outsourcing parenting. It is seeing your child develop and grow. In my experience as a parent of young children, seeing what my child gets out of child care every day convinces me beyond doubt that she is in a place that supports her learning and emotional growth and is setting her up for her future.

Labor sees a future where all families can access that sort of support and where all Australian families know that accessing child care should not be a big hit to your budget. It should be affordable, it should be universal and it should be accessible. There is a lot of work still to do in this space, and we know that despite the government saying they did a once-in-a generation reform, they didn't get there, because they're trying again. This policy doesn't get there either. Don't be half-hearted about it. Don't just accept a few tweaks from Labor's policy because we pushed you into it. Do it properly. We plan to do it properly. We plan to set up an early education system that supports young children and families across our country.

My final plea to the government is to support early childhood educators through this pandemic. Recognise that they remain on the front line—they can't do their jobs remotely. They are there amongst the snotty noses and the coughs, wondering every day what that might mean for them and their communities. So support them to get vaccinated. They need to be vaccinated as soon as possible. Support them financially. Don't cut off their financial support early like you did with JobKeeper last year. These people need support. They are doing vital work. I certainly know that I would not be able to be here doing my job if it were not for early educators and the work they continue to do through this pandemic. That deserves to be recognised by this government. They do deserve extra support. I am proud that Labor both values early childhood educators and wants to support them through their work and into the future. We want to build a child care and early education system that will support Australian families, and we'll make sure that Australian families can afford it. They won't struggle at the end of every week, thinking, 'What was our childcare hit this week?' Our system will mean that our children will get the best start in life.

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